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Five Sentences That Would Shake the World

June 2, 2005

"As of today, California is going to be the leader in the fight against global warming ... I say the debate is over. We know the science. We see the threat. And we know the time for action is now."
–California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, speaking to the United Nations World Environment Day Conference, June 1.

Five declarative sentences. If President Bush were to substitute “America” for “California,” replace the Austrian accent with a west Texas drawl, and say those five sentences in public, he would do wonders for America.

With those five sentences, Bush would unleash a torrent of technological and economic innovation from America’s scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs.

Bush would bring new economic hope to rural America and new opportunities to America’s manufacturing centers.

Bush would start ramping down our nation’s strategically dangerous dependence on oil as a primary transportation fuel.

Bush would begin repairing and strengthening a global energy system that is under unprecedented stress.

Bush would enhance America’s standing in the world, acquiring for our nation a stock of moral and political capital that would be vital for repairing fractured alliances, winning respectful new friends, and together facing down the many scourges menacing modern civilization.

And Bush would position himself as a worthy successor to Theodore Roosevelt as a great conservationist.

Five sentences, Mr. President. Ten seconds of your time. What do you say?